Charlie Kirk’s statue has been vandalized, just days after its unveiling last week, as his widow and the Turning Point USA family were grieving the first anniversary of his murder.
Just days after the statue honoring Charlie was unveiled at TPUSA headquarters in Phoenix, vandals desecrated it with red paint. The paint was smeared across his face and neck, mocking the fact that he was fatally shot there. A red frowny face was painted on his body.
A nearby Christian tribute was also defaced, and the name of Jesus was targeted. The sign had said, “May Charlie be received into the merciful arms of Jesus, our loving Savior.” The vandals crossed out Jesus and wrote the name of Satan in his place.
Phoenix police are investigating.
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Erika Kirk responded to the incident by pointing back to her Christian faith, saying the vandalism would not change the message or mission of Turning Point.”
She said you can’t just wipe some paint over Charlie Kirk’s legacy and make it go away.
She’s vowing to continue his legacy of building, while the opposite side is focused on tearing things down. Here’s her full statement:
“Charlie once said we should be building two statues for every statue that they tear down. His instinct was always to build, not to destroy.
They thought a bullet would silence my husband’s voice but it only made it louder. They think spray paint can obscure his legacy, but it will only spread it further. Every attempt to tear down what Charlie built makes us root deeper and work even harder.
And if you think crossing out the name of Jesus Christ will silence Christians, history has already proved you wrong. We know what it costs to stand firm for Christ and we will stand anyway. God will not be mocked.
We’ll put His name right back where it belongs, clean up the mess, restore Charlie’s statue, and keep building.
We will never give up and never surrender.”
CBN’s Billy Hallowell said it’s clear the perpetrators have chosen to side with darkness. “I think the obvious spiritual nature of this is evident when you have people crossing out Jesus and writing Satan. I think it says everything it needs to say about how horrific this really is. And I mean, imagine when somebody dies. We used to be a culture where, you know, when somebody died, it was like, okay, that’s sacred. You’re not going to go after somebody after they’ve died because, we know that as human beings, that’s not something you do no matter what you think about them. That’s been thrown out the window now.”
CBN’s Dan Andros said on the QuickStart podcast that, as the culture of death expands from abortion to assassination attempts to euthanasia’s alleged “death with dignity,” it’s a stark contrast between the two messages of good and evil.
“It’s very much a fragile time for America right now, and these two competing visions are sort of being put forward. So, we’ll see where the country decides to go in the coming days, weeks, and months,” he said.
TPUSA also released a statement about this evil effort to trample on Charlie’s legacy of faith and hope:
We will restore the statue and replace the signs, but we are also reviewing the footage of the incident and are working with law enforcement to identify who did this and hold them accountable.
But vandalism like this is not funny, it’s diabolical. The incident happened in the middle of the night because evil never sleeps. Beyond spray painting on the neck and face, they made the intentional decision to cross out the name of Jesus on a nearby sign.
“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.”- John 15:18
Published by agreement with CBN News.
Benjamin Gill manages CBNNews.com and the CBN News app while also curating social media material. He has been on staff with CBN News as an internet and broadcast producer since 2000, with stints producing for CBN Newswatch and The 700 Club. He is a graduate of Queens College in New York City, where he also interned as a reporter at Newsday and worked as an editor in the publishing industry. Benjamin has served as a worship leader and elder at his local church and has a passion for reporting the evidence of God in our world while pointing people to Jesus Christ.
